1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates generally to a network system of personal computers (referred to as PCs hereafter) equipped with hard disk drives and, more particularly, to an installation system of software for each computer terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
When operating a newly purchased personal computer for the first time or when running a newly bought software package for the first time, one must start up the PC or the software program with a floppy disk of an operating system (OS) or with an application software program by inserting it in the drive. One must also install the program stored in the floppy disk into the hard disk drive and set up the environment. It is customary for end users themselves to install a software program and to set up the environment by using a keyboard and referring to a manual that comes with the new software package. These tasks are time consuming for a beginner as well as an expert.
Oftentimes in PC classes at schools and at PC training centers, software installation and/or hardware initialization must be done for many computers. Teachers and instructors expend a lot of time and efforts to do so.
It has been a trend of recent years that, when a user purchases a new PC, the user specifies the configuration of the PC to be purchased such as a CPU and a capacity of a hard disk drive. The user is also asked to purchase an OS and at least a few application software packages to prevent any copyright infringement. The fact that a basic set of software packages to run the new PC come with it indicates that selling a PC means "providing functions" rather than "providing just hardware." When manufacturers of PCs sell their products, they do not just bundle the PC and the application software packages a buyer specifies, but they must provide PCs that have application software programs already installed. It requires much time and labor to install different software programs on individual PCs according to the selections made by individual buyers. Further, it takes a long time to make copies of software programs. Therefore, shipping delays may occur.
The installation system presented in the Japanese patent laid-open publication HEI 6-44055 discloses a technique to eliminate the complexity of the software installation described above. As shown in FIG. 6, the installation system comprises a master server (computer) 11 that provides information regarding the installation through a network 13 in response to a request, and a target computer 12 that receives information regarding the installation from master server 11 through network 13 and performs the installation. Master server 11 comprises a machine installation information storage unit 111 that stores the machine information corresponding to computer IDs and the installation information, an ID receiving unit 112 that receives IDs from an ID transmitting unit 121 of target computer 11, an information retrieving unit 113 that retrieves information from machine installation information storage unit 111 using the received ID as a key, and a machine installation information transmitting unit 114 that transmits the retrieved information to target computer 12. Target computer 12 comprises ID transmitting unit 121 that transmits its own ID to master server 11 to obtain the installation information, a receiver 123 that receives the machine and installation information sent from master server 11, and an installation unit 122 that performs the installation based on the received information. Inquiry about the installation information is performed by target computer 12 that sends its ID to master server 11 through ID transmitting unit 121.
ID receiving unit 112 of master server 11 receives a computer ID and passes it to information retrieving unit 113, which in turn searches the ID in the machine installation information table of machine installation information storage unit 111. When that particular computer ID is found, the relevant machine installation information is sent to target computer 12 through machine installation information transmitting unit 114. Installation unit 122 of target computer 12 receives the machine and installation information via receiving unit 123 and performs the installation according to the received information to build a complete system.
The installation system disclosed in the Japanese patent laid-open publication HEI 6-44055 mentioned above has a network of a plurality of computer terminals such as target computer 12, in which the machine and installation 10 information stored in master server 11 (e.g., computer names, computer addresses, network information, purpose of external storage devices, information about the software to be installed) is distributed to the individual terminals. Installation unit 122 obtains the information needed for the installation from master computer 11 and installs the software according to specific installation information. Therefore, users can build a system efficiently without any special knowledge of installation and without any complicated operations.
The computer terminals used in the above network are assumed to have an OS (operating system) already installed. Therefore, a newly purchased computer without an OS installed in it cannot perform an installation operation even when the power is switched on because it is unable to send its computer ID. In other words, the installation system cannot be used to install an OS because a terminal computer does not have an OS installed. Therefore, this installation system still requires manual installation of an OS. Accordingly, it is not suitable for such applications as installation for a computer class at schools and installation at a manufacturer's site to produce installed computers.